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Operant conditioning theory pdf

Pavlov’s dog” and “Pavlovian” redirect operant conditioning theory pdf. For this and other reasons, learning theorists commonly suggest that the conditioned stimulus comes to signal or predict the unconditioned stimulus, and go on to analyze the consequences of this signal.

1988 article “Pavlovian conditioning: It’s not what you think it is”. Despite its widespread acceptance, Rescorla’s thesis may not be defensible. Although differences exists between classical and operant conditioning, both forms of conditioning are capable of changing the behavior of humans and non-human animals in predictable ways. During his research on the physiology of digestion in dogs, Pavlov developed a procedure that enabled him to study the digestive processes of animals over long periods of time. He redirected the animal’s digestive fluids outside the body, where they could be measured. Pavlov noticed that his dogs began to salivate in the presence of the technician who normally fed them, rather than simply salivating in the presence of food.

Pavlov called the dogs’ anticipatory salivation “psychic secretion”. Pavlov concluded that if a particular stimulus in the dog’s surroundings was present when the dog was given food then that stimulus could become associated with food and cause salivation on its own. Likewise, the responses of the dog follow the same conditioned-versus-unconditioned arrangement. CS and the appearance of the US was relatively short.

As noted earlier, it is often thought that the conditioned response is a replica of the unconditioned response, but Pavlov noted that saliva produced by the CS differs in composition from that produced by the US. In fact, the CR may be any new response to the previously neutral CS that can be clearly linked to experience with the conditional relationship of CS and US. The time interval increases from left to right. Learning is fastest in forward conditioning.

During forward conditioning, the onset of the CS precedes the onset of the US in order to signal that the US will follow. Two common forms of forward conditioning are delay and trace conditioning. In delay conditioning, the CS is presented and is overlapped by the presentation of the US. For example, if a person hears a buzzer for five seconds, during which time air is puffed into their eye, the person will blink. After several pairings of the buzzer and the puff, the person will blink at the sound of the buzzer alone. During trace conditioning, the CS and US do not overlap. Instead, the CS begins and ends before the US is presented.